ZANESVILLE, Ohio —Authorities say that in all, 56 exotic animals escaped from a farm in Muskingum County last night, and one was still missing this afternoon.

Of those animals, 49 were killed. Six animals -- a grizzly bear, three leopards and two monkeys -- were captured alive and taken to the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, and a monkey and a grey wolf were at large. The animals that were killed included 18 tigers, nine male lions, eight female lions, six black bears, three mountain lions, two grizzly bears, one baboon and two wolves, Sheriff Matt Lutz said. The escaped monkey poses a danger because it is infected with herpes, the sheriff said.

The owner of the farm, Terry Thompson, was found dead last night on his property. Authorities say Thompson opened the cage doors and cut the wires on the cages, then killed himself. He died from a gunshot wound. Lutz said Thompson's body was "bothered" by the animals.

Lutz had previously said a grizzly bear, a wolf and a mountain lion were missing. Today, authorities confirmed they killed the bear on the property last night. The wolf was later found dead; it had been shot last night. An officer wounded the mountain lion, which staggered into a neighbor's property and died.

This is so depressing. I wish he would have looked for real sanctuaries for the animals he was keeping instead of just turning them loose to be shot.

The preserve had lions, tigers, cheetahs, wolves, giraffes, camels and bears....A few weeks ago, [a neighbor] said, she spotted camels grazing on the side of a freeway.

But yes, the news is only reporting counts for predator animals: big cats, bears, and canids, and the one monkey. Maybe the others weren't released? Or maybe this one report is mistaken that there were giraffes and camels. I sure hope so.

This happened pretty close to where I live, about an hour away. It is terribly heartbreaking, I feel so sad for those animals that had to die, and hate that it was legal for that guy to just have all those animals and be the only person responsible for them. I can't stop thinking about.

I am close too, about 2 hours. It's a semi rural area and has been off and on storming since this happened, just locating them required enormous manpower. I don't blame the sheriffs department because it sounds like they took every complaint about this guy seriously but didn't have the law behind them to enforce anything, and then when they got loose they didn't have a lot of options. My speculation is the animals have been mistreated and underfed for a long time, and once they were set free they were scared, hungry, and reacted aggressively (who wouldn't after that?) and there were limited time and resources because of the number of animals.

I was already seriously unhappy with Kasich for so many reasons, but the fact he let an exotic animal law executive order expire after the bear in an exotic animal backyard enclosure mauling someone and now this?

I hate that so many media outlets used the word escaped. These animals did not escape - they were forcibly kept in cages and then released by someone who exploited them and did not care about their welfare. They are the victims in all of this, and did not have a shred of agency in their so-called 'escape.'

_________________My oven is bigger on the inside, and it produces lots of wibbly wobbly, cake wakey... stuff. - The PoopieB.

Yes, this was very sad. I had read in one source they captured 5 of the animals, maybe those were the giraffes? I dunno, everything about this is just sad. I agree that probably the police did what they had to do, it's just so upsetting this happened.

I hate that so many media outlets used the word escaped. These animals did not escape - they were forcibly kept in cages and then released by someone who exploited them and did not care about their welfare. They are the victims in all of this, and did not have a shred of agency in their so-called 'escape.'

This. This whole thing makes me absolutely furious, and I've been trying to avoid coverage since we started hearing all this "deadly force," "shoot to kill" stuff. Those poor animals must have been so confused and terrified, and now most of them are dead because of one stupid d-bag's selfish irresponsibility. It's one thing to kill yourself, it's another to wantonly ensure the unnecessary deaths of 50 living creatures you took it upon yourself to have in your care.

This story makes me so angry and upset also. I understand that they need to protect the community from ill-treated animals that would be scared and dangerous, but why did they need to shoot and kill the animals, rather than shoot them with tranquilizers? The article that I read states the reason they needed to kill them was because it was dark, but I fail to see why they can use guns in the dark and not tranquilizers. Perhaps because getting the proper tranquilizers, locating the animals, and finding temporary accommodation for that many animals was hard and too costly a problem for them. Better to kill endangered animals? Grrr.

This story makes me so angry and upset also. I understand that they need to protect the community from ill-treated animals that would be scared and dangerous, but why did they need to shoot and kill the animals, rather than shoot them with tranquilizers? The article that I read states the reason they needed to kill them was because it was dark, but I fail to see why they can use guns in the dark and not tranquilizers. Perhaps because getting the proper tranquilizers, locating the animals, and finding temporary accommodation for that many animals was hard and too costly a problem for them. Better to kill endangered animals? Grrr.

The articles that I read were pretty poorly worded but what I gathered was that they were afraid that if they tranquellized them they would run into the woods and disappear in the dark (since they don't take affect immediately) and before the police could find them they would have recovered and be on the move again.

The whole situation is just too distubring to break down, and to top it off, once again the people that discourage my veganism are having a huge pity party about these poor animals as if they are drastically different from the millions in the farming industry.

...and to top it off, once again the people that discourage my veganism are having a huge pity party about these poor animals as if they are drastically different from the millions in the farming industry.

One of the article I read said that the police had thought about tranquilizers, but there wasn't enough time to find out what kind to use, get them, and distribute them to all the officers. Most of the police were shooting with whatever weapon they usually carry.

...and to top it off, once again the people that discourage my veganism are having a huge pity party about these poor animals as if they are drastically different from the millions in the farming industry.

this really pissed me off, too. it just makes me so mad!

This is killing me, too. Everyone's all "this is so terrible!" and then having pepperoni pizza for lunch. How many pigs die every day under even more horrifying circumstances to make that pepperoni?

I wish that they could have found a way to save the animals, even if it meant giving them to a zoo (and I hate zoos), but I can only imagine how freaked out the authorities must have been at having to figure out what to do; you don't go to work in the morning expecting that sort of thing! The question now is: how on earth is it legally permissible for a person to keep animals like that in cages on their property? The whole situation is a senseless tragedy that should never have occurred in the first place.

I understand that they need to protect the community from ill-treated animals that would be scared and dangerous, but why did they need to shoot and kill the animals, rather than shoot them with tranquilizers?

Apparently, also, tranquilizers don't work as they should in the dark due to increased adrenaline in the animals' systems; they did move to those in daylight for some animals, I think.

I don't envy cops who were trying to protect themselves and their communities from animals that were wild and likely mistreated, and were probably aggressive. They probably expected to spend the day dealing with stuff like car accidents.

What I find most enraging is that this guy was allowed to have these animals in the first place, and that there were already concerns about how they were being cared for -- and then he just let them all loose. So much for taking care of them in his "reserve." It just shouldn't be allowed -- they are wild animals, and they don't belong in cages in Ohio. The end.